And what will happen when the shoe is on the other foot?

 

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3vwg73xndeo

This was reported on the BBC website today.

Bad news for models and photographers. And this will only happen, "if given permission by models". How much bargaining power do these model have? Close to zero I'd say.

And I wonder how H&M would react is models used a digital clones of H&M clothing in their portfolio photographs? Or if competitors used AI to create patterns for digital clones of H&M clothing?   

Be very careful what you wish for. 

It's only a reduction of 6.993%, but it's better than nothing

Lingonberry Fruit Spread display at IKEA

Ligonberry Spread "New lower price" sign

Lingonberry Fruit Spread jar

Price reduction on the shelf tag

Sunday afternoon I was at IKEA. (More wooden hangers for my kid's closet.) I saw this sign in the Swedish Marketplace section.

A price reduction, not a huge one, but a price reduction nevertheless. Given the recent new about inflation, any price reduction is worth shouting about. And in addition to the price reduction, the product had a pretty prime spot and there was lots of stock on the floor.

But the price reduction didn't change my buying behaviour. (Already had a full jar at home. Didn't need another one just yet.)

 

Does "Good stuff" mean "Good for you"?

Coca-Cola brand insulated neoprene can sleeve

According to the Coca-Cola website, Coca-Cola is made with "CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE". (Source: https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en/brands/coca-cola/products/original#accordion-c55f229edc-item-93131ee8b3) 

I'm not 100% sure that everyone would agree that the ingredients listed above are all "good stuff".

While everything listed on the label has been approved for human consumption, many people feel that an ingredient like high fructose corn syrup is an inferior sweetener to cane sugar. 

Most consumers would be surprised that 90% of the phosphoric acid production ends up in fertilizers, and yet it is still an ingredient in products deemed safe for human consumption. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorizes caffeine as "generally recognized as safe".  Hardly an overwhelming endorsement.

As American poet John Godfrey Saxe said in 1869, "Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made".   (The quote is most often attributed to Otto von Bismark and reported as, "Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made". But there is no evidence that Bismark ever said it.) 

I'm sure if we looked hard enough at many things we consume, we'd change our eating habits.

Where is this really made?

Buderim Ginger Beer can 

Manufacturing Information on Buderim Ginger Beer can

"Crafted in Australia" on Buderim Ginger Beer can

Okay, I'm confused. Buderim is an Australian brand. The can says it is, "Made With Fresh Australian Ginger Juice". The can is printed with "CRAFTED IN AUSTRALIA". Sounds like it is an Australian product. 

But the adhesive label stuck on the can says that it is "Manufactured in Airdrie, Alberta". That would seem to mean that empty cans are shipped from Australia, filled in Canada, and the big adhesive label is attached. How does that make any sense at all? 

Ocean shipping is generally charged by volume, not by weight. Is it that much cheaper to brew this ginger beer in Canada, using ingredients imported from Australia?

I think this product is manufactured in Canada, but the packaging is very confusing. (And surely that is against the law.)

Are DVDs dead?

DVD on sale at 50% off at London Drugs

 

The DVD section at London Drugs

There is something to be said for owning a physical product and being able to touch it, read the credits etc. (Perhaps one of the reasons that vinyl has made such a comeback.) 

But these days most films are available via one of the many streaming services. And that seems to have led to a decline in the demand for DVDs. But I find this odd. 

As anyone who uses a streaming service will have observed, it is not uncommon for films to drift in and out of availability. Old films are suddenly available, and viewers are also faced with the "Leaving Soon" warning for more recent releases.

If you want to be able to watch a film, you really need to own it in a physical format. So, if you want to flesh out your film library, and be able to watch those titles in the future, this clearance sale at London Drugs may be worth a visit.

So obviously done by AI

 

I was on then site for an audio retailer and they had an article about cables. "Are cables important in audio?"

I clicked on the link only to be confronted by this abomination of an illustration. 

Everything on the page looks as if it has been rescued from a fire. The guitars are missing strings and ironically, nothing that needs a cable is actually connected via cable.

The problem with AI generated illustration is that you need someone with experience and a good eye to be able to write the prompts and tell the AI wants is wrong. Of course, it would be so much easier to just get a real illustrator or photographer to do the piece in the first place. And the end result would be much better.

I've never seen this before, but I expect to see more of this in the future

Lassonde advertisement
(Source: The Globe and Mail, March 15, 2025)

The tariff war between the US and Canada, and between the US and just about everywhere else, is dramatically changing the marketing landscape in Canada.

Firms that are Canadian previously didn't make a big deal about it, but they are now taking out full page advertisements to proclaim their Canadian ownership. I'm sure that they are hoping that this will increase their marketshare. Well, they are getting more business from me.

PS I teach International Business courses. Every day I wonder what fresh chaos the news has delivered. I wonder how any firm can have any strategy at all, let alone a long-term strategy.

What makes a mover "professional"?

Small Moves truck

I saw this truck today. The terminology is confusing.

I think we can define "Experienced", and there may even be a way of categorizing and quantifying it. Over one year of experience, over two years etc.

But how do we define "Professional"? All that word means is that someone is paid to perform the task. Since no moving truck is staffed by volunteers, any moving company can make the claim that its movers are "Professional".

"Experienced, Professional Movers" is probably supposed to be a reassuring term, but lacking any objective justification, it is pretty meaningless.

Always were, now more promoted

Bay Bloor Radio Website - March 14, 2025

 

Bay Bloor Radio Website - March 14, 2025

As a teenager in Toronto in the 1970s, Bay Bloor Radio was my local stereo store. I worked up the street and would stop in on my lunch hour to look and drool over equipment that was far beyond my budget.

The staff tolerated young tire kickers like me, knowing full well that I'd age into Bay Bloor's target demographic. (As I later did.)

I would usually see the store's owner and founder, Sol Mandlsohn, out on the sales floor interacting with customers and generally keeping an eye on things.

Back in my early days shopping at Bay Bloor there was lots of McIntosh, Pioneer, and Sony equipment on display, and even some Bang & Olufsen.

But looking at the firm's website now, in the era of tariffs, Canadian equipment has pride of place. Of the four brands feature on the front page of the site, two are made in Canada (Moon and Totem), one is designed in Canada (Bluesound), and the fourth is from the United Kingdom (Bowers & Wilkins).

Bay Bloor still sells lots of US brands such as JBL, McIntosh and Marantz, but is not putting them at the top of the front page of the website.  

Consumers are voting with their wallets and retailers are making it easier

 

The Globe and Mail, March 14, 2025
(Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-us-product-sales-dropping-in-empire-grocery-stores-during-trade-war/)

In the wake of the tariff chaos, many people have talked about changing their shopping habits but this store from today's Globe and Mail is a piece of concrete evidence that retailers are seeing the talk turned into action.

Consumer are seeking out and buying Canadian products, and retailers are making it easier to find them. 

Loblaws, a competitor of Empire, is using a Maple Leaf to indicate Canadian products, and a "T" to indicate US-made products that are subject to a tariff when they enter Canada.

Canadian content and Tariff explanation on the Loblaws website
(Source: https://www.loblaw.ca/en/tariffs/) 

An update. (The figured it out.)

 

BC Lotteries Website
Source: https://www.playnow.com/lottery

Dollarama Logo
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Dollarama_logo.svg/2560px-Dollarama_logo.svg.png

Unsurprisingly, Dollarama has figured out how to sell lottery tickets. You can buy a lottery ticket on a transaction with other purchases, and you can buy more tan one type of lottery ticket on a single transaction.

Turns out it was more of a training issue than a policy and procedure issue.

Now with Canadian content, that was probably there all along

"Made in Canada" card included in Hello Fresh meals

I've been using Hello Fresh, a meal preparation service, for a few months. My kid has been picking up some useful cooking skills, and I don't have to make dinner.

Hello Fresh has never mentioned Canadian content previously, but the Canada/US tariff chaos has dramatically increased the demand for Canadian content. (And the willingness of firms to identify anything Canadian about their offerings.)

And so Hello Fresh, a German meal preparation firm, is taking steps to wrap itself in the Canadian flag.

So new it still has the rope on it. (And tape around the coil of rope.)

New "CANADIAN owned and operated" banner at Save On Foods

 

Rope attached to the banner

More and more Canadian companies are making a big deal out of the fact that they are Canadian.  Save On Foods has recently added these banners to all of their stores. 

Probably something that they should have been done years ago, but the erratic behaviour of the current US president has engendered an amazing swelling of Canadian pride. Might as well take advantage of it.

Important for 10% of the population

Zebra SARASA dry X20 packaging

 

Zebra SARASA dry X20 packaging (Detail)

I'm resolutely right-handed. (And right-footed.) I play baseball, cricket, and tennis right-handed. (The only exceptions in sports are ice and field hockey. I hold those sticks left-handed. No idea why.)

So, I'm not all that familiar with the ink smudging problem that left-handed writers face. (By most estimates I've seen, about 10% of the population is left handed.)

While this is not an important feature to me, it must be important enough to a chunk of the population that Zebra felt it was worth mentioning. And good for them.

We're selling lotteries tickets, just not making it easy

BC Lotteries Website
Source: https://www.playnow.com/lottery

 

Dollarama Logo
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Dollarama_logo.svg/2560px-Dollarama_logo.svg.png

Dollarama, a Canadian dollar store, is now selling lottery tickets.

But the process is torturous, to say the least. 

You can by a lottery ticket, but I was told that you can't buy a lottery ticket in a transaction with any other merchandise. Also, if you are buying two tickets for two different lotteries, e.g. Lotto Max and Lotto 649, the tickets must be on separate transactions.

If the intent is to NOT sell tickets, this is the right way to go about it.

Any time you make it hard for the customer to give you money, they'll find another way to buy what they want.

10% of Canadians want to join the US, but they are lots of people with even more ridiculous beliefs

Leger poll on Conspiracy Theories
(Source: https://leger360.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Leger_Conspiracy_Theories_Canada-US.pdf)

On March 3, 2025 the CBC reported on a survey that found that 10% of Canadians questioned thought that joining the US was a good idea.

On the face of it that may seem like a lot of people.

But in a November 2023 poll, Leger found that the are lots of Canadian's with some rather odd beliefs.

• 5% believe "The earth is flat"
• 11% believe "The lunar landings are a hoax"
• 12% believe "The visible streaks left by aircraft in the sky are actually chemicals intentionally sprayed for various undisclosed purposes, known as chemtrails"
• 17% believe "The 2020 election was rigged and stolen from Donald Trump" 

Making a choice

Sign at Kin's Farm Market

The ongoing trade chaos between the US and Canada is causing people on both sides of the border unnecessary anguish.

Many Canadian firms are trumpeting the fact that their products are grown/made/produced in Canada.

But Canada can be a cold place, and this affects the amount and types of produce that can be grown in Canada. 

Kin's has taken the step of posting these signs in their locations. Yes, Kin's will try to stock British Columbia and Canadian-grown produce, but sometime, there isn't a Canadian option. Good way to be proactive.

 

Is there competition? Not really.

Mobile phone brands sold by WirelessWave

WirelessWave is a telecommunications retailer with over 300 locations across Canada. If you go into any large shopping mall in Canada you'll see about half a dozen telecommunications retailers. Some sell a single brand (i.e. Fido and Koodo locations), while others sell the offering from multiple brands.  

WirelessWave, which sells to sell service from six brands, is actually owned by two of the largest Canadian telecommunications companies. (Rogers and Bell)

In country with a very limited number of mobile phone companies, and no foreign-owned competition, I'm sure that does not really help to keep prices low.